A World That Will Not Turn to Ash (English)(From Ashes Vol.1)

Chapter 19 - Not Me, You

Marian awoke from a light and troubled sleep and she heard the sound of heavy footsteps coming down the dungeon's stairs.
She retired in the darkest corner of the cell to go unnoticed and she prayed that it wasn't Roger of Barrett. Fortunately there were only two soldiers dragging in their midst an unconscious prisoner.
One of them opened the cell next to Marian's one and the other pushed the unconscious man in it without the slightest care.
Marian gasped realizing that it was Allan.
She waited until the guards had gone away and she walked to the bars that divided their cells. She slipped her arm through them and managed to reach Allan's hand.
She held it and she tried to shake him to get him back to consciousness and, after a while, the young man opened his eyes.
"Allan! What are you doing here?" The girl whispered.
"Marian!" Allan exclaimed, sitting up. "Are you well?"
She sighed.
"I'm not hurt, for the rest, just look around. Why did you end up in jail?"
Allan rubbed his head where he had been hit by one of the guards.
"I pretended to be one of the servants who came to bring your stuff to be able to discreetly protect you, but apparently mine was not a good plan... It's better than Giz's one, however."
"Why?" Marian asked, alarmed. "Where is Guy?"
"He went to seek help from Tuck. And Robin Hood."
"Did you tell him where the camp is?! Allan, they will kill him!"
"Do you think I could stop him? Guy would go through hell for you. He has already done it."

Robin Hood stiffened to hear a rustle of footsteps approaching through the trees. He got up quietly from the ground and he picked up the bow, then he held it out, preparing to defend themselves. He glanced at Gisborne, but he didn't see the sword that he had given him earlier, Guy must have dropped it into the clearing when he ran away.
The situation was dangerous: if the killers should attack them, Robin would have to face them alone and he wasn't sure he could overpower them.
It was with relief that he saw Djaq appear in the bushes.
"Robin!" The girl said, running up to him. "What happened? There's a body in the clearing..." She stopped suddenly seeing Gisborne who was lying on the ground. "Is he... dead?"
Robin shook his head.
"No. But I can't understand what happened to him..."
Djaq approached Guy and she watched him for a few seconds, then she took off her cloak and put it on him, like a blanket. She returned to Robin and she motioned for him to follow her.
They went back to the clearing and they met Much that was coming to look for them.
"Much, can you stay with Gisborne and keep an eye on him?" The girl asked, pointing in the direction from which they came. "But let him be quiet, do not talk to him."
Much looked at his master, questioning him with a gaze and Robin nodded.
"Do as Djaq said."
Robin waited for his friend to go away, then he turned back to the girl.
"So?"
"Before, when you spied us as we talked, have you seen the wounds on his back?"
Robin shook his head.
"No, I started to follow you when you had already gone away from the fire. And I wasn't spying."
Djaq looked at him skeptically.
"Eavesdropping is not spying?"
"I would say I was keeping watch." Robin explained. "So Gisborne was injured?"
"He has been whipped. Many times. And he had a stab very close to the heart. It's a miracle he's still alive."
They reached the clearing and Robin looked around more carefully: the ground was darker in some places and Robin realized with horror that those brownish patches were residues of dried blood. On one side there was a pit dug in the middle of the path from which a nauseating smell and the buzz of flies came. Robin saw that the bottom of the pit was covered with decomposed carcasses of many horses.
"Look at that tree." He told Djaq. "The ground around it is covered with blood and there are still some ropes nearby."
"Do you think this is the same place where Gisborne was attacked?!" Djaq asked, amazed.
"It would correspond to the stories that I heard and it would explain the reaction he had when we entered the clearing. In the Holy Land, I saw men in that condition after surviving a massacre, I should have known before."
"Robin, what will you do with him? You're not going to kill him, right?"
The outlaw smiled bitterly. Some time before, Marian had asked him if he had killed Gisborne and now Djaq thought of him as a potential murderer.
"No, and I never wanted to do it. Take him back to the camp, we will decide what to do with him when I return."
"Where are you going?"
"To Nottingham, to rescue Marian."
"Do you already have a plan?"
"Of course."
Djaq looked at him, critically.
"Really?"
"No. But I'll find one."
"I have a plan, Hood."
Djaq and Robin whirled to look at Gisborne, who had just come out of the woods, followed by Much.
Guy was deathly pale, he was still shaking and his eyes were swollen and red, but his expression was serious and determined as that of a man who had just made a serious and painful decision and who was willing to make any sacrifice in order to pursue it to the end.
"Do you know how to make Marian escape from the castle?" Djaq asked.
"I am sure that Hood will find a way. He's always been able to come and go from Nottingham at will, I would be very disappointed if he doesn't succeed to do it now. My plan is for later."
"What do you mean?"
"If you just make her run away, it won't be enough. Roger of Barrett will chase her, he will do anything to take back what he considers his. Marian will be condemned to live forever as an outlaw, or she will eventually fall into his hands. She must be protected, we must ensure that Barret has no more rights over her and the only way is that Marian marries someone else before being forced to become the wife of that animal."
Robin shook his head with a scornful smile.
"And I suppose you want to volunteer. I should have known, Gisborne, another ignoble plan to take advantage on her. And to think that I was listening to you..."
"No! Not me." Guy shouted and he pointed at Robin. "You! You'll marry Marian."
"What?!"
"She is yours, she always has been yours. I refused to see it, but now I know. And now I have nothing to offer her, for the rest of the world I am a dead man. You will bring her out of the castle and you'll marry her immediately. I will make sure that it is possible, even if I'll have to threaten the priest of Locksley.
"And then? Will she be forced to live in the forest, waiting to be killed along with us by the sheriff's soldiers?"
"Of course not. You'll have to take her away, far from here. I am sure that you have friends, allies that can offer you protection, you could probably get to King Richard and join his court."
"And what about us, master?" Much asked. "Without Robin Hood what will become of us?"
Guy looked at him, furious, and he grabbed him by the throat, causing him to slam his back against a tree.
"I'm willing to give her up, the love of my life, the one person for whom my life is worth living, the only one that has prevented my world to burn in the flames of hell! He can give up his stupid life as an outlaw! He can do it! He must do it!" He released Much and turned back to Robin. "Save Marian! Protect her at all costs! Give her the life she deserves, or I swear I'll kill you with my bare hands, Hood!"
"Calm down, now." Robin said. "I will save Marian. I would have done it in any case, even without your threats."
"Very well." Gisborne said, weakly, then he turned his back to the other three and he started to walk away from the clearing.
Djaq saw him stagger and lean against a tree before continuing on and she looked at him, worried.
"Go with him." Robin urged. "Bring him back to our camp. Much, get help from Little John and Will and be sure to return the body of that poor man to his family."
"Are you going to Nottingham alone?" Djaq asked.
"It will be easier to get into the castle if I am alone. If I will need help, I'll find a way to alert you."
Djaq nodded, then she ran away to reach Gisborne.